


Jury-Rigged

by Moontyger



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-27
Updated: 2012-08-27
Packaged: 2017-11-12 23:43:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/496989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moontyger/pseuds/Moontyger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inara's eyes were distant, but her hands were warm and sure as she gently rubbed scented oil over Kaylee's skin.  </p><p>Set shortly after "Shindig".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jury-Rigged

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Trialia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trialia/gifts).



It was quiet in Inara's shuttle - quiet and sweetly scented from incense and candles, scents carefully chosen to combine pleasantly rather than clashing with that of the oil she was rubbing into Kaylee's skin with gentle, sure hands. She paused at the gunshot scar – just a minute hesitation, but Kaylee noticed anyway.

“Oh, I know. It looks terrible, don't it?” She raised a hand self-consciously, but Inara pushed it away.

“It isn't bad at all,” she replied firmly. “I've seen far worse scars. I was just remembering when it happened.”

As if she could forget. It was true that she'd seen worse, but she'd rarely been there to see the injuries that caused the scars in question. Companions were for love, not war, and she was glad of it. For all that violence was a way of life for most of the crew of the _Serenity_ , it would never be her choice.

And mostly, it wasn't Kaylee's either. She was a mechanic, not a fighter. And maybe it was because of that that seeing her fall had hit Inara so hard. _Not her. She's supposed to be safe,_ she had thought, a moment before despising it. It was the thought of a child, and Inara was long past that. None of them were safe, not out here, and yet after eight months on _Serenity_ , it was the first time she'd really had it driven home.

It had affected her more than she'd expected, so much so that she'd almost said more than she meant to and to Simon, of all people – Simon, who in another life could have been a client of hers and who, consequently, she couldn't quite see the same as the rest of the crew.  It wasn't that she didn't respect her clients.  If that were true, she wouldn't have chosen them.  But she was careful to maintain a certain professional distance with them and she'd found that extended to Simon as well.

What she'd said didn't seem so revealing, not on the surface.  Kaylee _was_ dear to them all. Yes, it was true. But she was special to Inara, even if she hadn't meant to imply it so openly. Special for so many reasons, among them the way that she, unlike Mal, didn't mind Inara's profession at all. Kaylee hadn't a jealous bone in her body, at least not when it came to Inara's clients. If it were someone else, her smiles and jokes about it might have covered pain, but not Kaylee. She was too honest for that.

“Inara?”

She started; she had been lulled by the rhythm of her hands and the depth of her thoughts into something close to a trance. “Yes?”

“Do you miss it?”

“Miss what?” she asked, although she suspected she already knew the answer.

“Planets and society people. Parties like that one we went to, where everything was all rich and shiny. You belonged there.” She frowned. “And I didn't. Even if it was fun and the food was fantastic.”

Inara's reddened lips curved into a smile as she shook her head. “You were the most beautiful woman there.” It was an easy thing to say, the sort of lie she told almost by instinct now, but in this case, she meant it. Oh, Kaylee was right: she didn't fit in with those people. It was also true that her dress had been horrid and unflattering. But unlike everyone else there, Inara included, she'd been nothing but herself. There was a beauty in that that couldn't be faked.

“Don't say that!” Kaylee blushed, something more easily provoked by compliments than by innuendo. “That was just the dress.”

“You wouldn't want to belong there. To do that, you'd have to leave _Serenity_ and you'd never be happy without her.”

Kaylee didn't argue the point. If she had, Inara wouldn't have believed her. Whatever they had together, _Serenity_ was Kaylee's first love. Not even a trained Companion could compete with that.

“Wouldn't hurt to be able to have food like that more often, though.”

“No,” Inara agreed. “It wouldn't.” She'd have provided more, if it weren't for Mal's stubborn pride. But then, it was similar pride that prevented her from buying things for Kaylee. Inara could afford it; it was common knowledge, although of the kind that everyone pretended not to notice. But whereas the pink ballgown had been a business expense, a gown from Inara would be seen as charity and she didn't want to offer insult.

Instead, she offered what would be accepted – tea, an attentive ear, a gentle hand on a hairbrush or skin. Hands that slid lower now, dipping between legs that Kaylee eagerly parted for her with a happy sigh.

The movements of her fingers were still gentle, still slow and patient, the slow path to arousal and eager squirming rather than the fast one.  It was almost a game, waiting to see just how long it would take before the pleasure was too much.  A game, but one Kaylee didn't play.  She wasn't one to hold back or try to prolong things.  And when she'd come, wearing almost the same blissful expression as the one that accompanied eating strawberries, she opened her eyes and reached for Inara, unwinding her sari with hands whose calluses caught a little on the delicate silk, something they both noticed but neither mentioned.

"Get over here.  You don't get to have all the fun."

Inara shivered a little as she assented, both from the cool air on her bare skin and in anticipation of the way those rough hands would feel on her skin.  Kaylee's hands weren't like those of most of her clients either - even out here on the frontier, most of them would have been horrified to have a mechanic's hands, with their scars and calluses and dirt that never quite washed off.  But for all their wear, those hands were nearly as sure as Inara's, if less patient and restrained.  Kaylee wasn't a selfish lover - she gave as good as she got, using hands and mouth in turn until they were both tired and sated. 

* * *

When Inara had begun this, Kaylee had protested. “Oh no, you don't need to do that. I can't hire you. Well,” she'd laughed, “I guess you know that.”

“I don't expect you to. You aren't a client.”

Kaylee looked momentarily puzzled. “Are Companions allowed to do that? … I guess that's a stupid question.”

“Few questions are truly stupid.” It wasn't the first time she'd heard that one either, though few had had occasion to ask. Most who did had something else in mind, usually someone seeking a freebie rather than someone to whom she'd made a genuine offer. “It isn't always considered wise, but it isn't forbidden.”

That had been enough for Kaylee, who wasn't one for reticence, even though it was her first time with another woman, and she'd never protested again.

As for Inara, she still questioned the wisdom of it at times, particularly when she considered just how attached she'd grown. She'd told Mal she stayed “to keep Kaylee out of trouble”, but there was more to her words than the joke they were couched in. Keep Kaylee out of trouble – yes, perhaps, or at least she'd try, when it came to the sort of trouble that ended in the infirmary. But as for herself, she was getting deeper in.

Or maybe she wasn't. That was it, wasn't it? Inara was used to relationships where everything was clear, certain. After all, most of hers were literally contractual. And even those that weren't, she'd always preferred things to be precise, controlled.

But that wasn't how Kaylee did things. As a mechanic, she could jury-rig a fix for a broken engine from paper clips and duct tape, or at least close enough. And when it came to the heart? Her style was the same – all enthusiasm and instinct, all heart and no planning. No control, or nearly none. She made it up as she went and this time, she took Inara with her.

It wasn't something she'd expected to like, but she'd found that she did. It was special, honest – like Kaylee herself, almost the antithesis of her former life and of Inara herself. She wasn't ashamed of herself nor of her profession – the opposite, in fact. But that didn't mean she couldn't see value in alternatives.

They were making it up as they went and she couldn't say where they'd go and when or if they'd end, but somehow, like _Serenity_ herself, they'd made it work.  If the status of the ship was any guide, they'd keep doing so for some time yet.  And after, if there was such a time?

Ah, well.  Inara stood and picked her sari up off the floor, draping it carefully over a chair before she rejoined Kaylee in the bed.  After was too far to see.  She couldn't say what was to come, not beyond this moment.  But at the very least, she was sure neither of them would have any regrets.


End file.
